


Soft Limit

by shamusandstone (theleaveswant)



Category: Leverage
Genre: BDSM, Consensual Kink, Gen, One of My Favorites, Queer Gen, RACK - Freeform, SSC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-24
Updated: 2009-09-24
Packaged: 2017-10-09 02:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/82068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theleaveswant/pseuds/shamusandstone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot and Alec have a talk about their respective kinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soft Limit

**Author's Note:**

> Contains discussions of sex and BDSM practices in general rather than specific terms. Written for [Queerly Gen](http://queerlygen.dreamwidth.org/) kickoff festival.

Eliot held the riding crop close to his face, examining it handle to tip. "How much did you pay for this?"

He tapped the flared leather end against the inside of his forearm while he waited for an answer.

"Twenty-five," Alec said when he glanced up from packing toys from the storage bin into his backpack, kneeling on the carpet while Eliot sat on the edge of the bed.

Eliot snorted. "You got ripped off. They sell this exact crop in tack stores for like a third of that."

Alec rolled his eyes. "That might be helpful, if I knew where to find a tack store."

With a grin, Eliot passed the crop into Alec's waiting hand. "You know there's a thing called Google? It has this map function where if you tell it where you are and what you're looking for--" Alec threw a bundle of cotton rope at him and he caught it, laughing.

"Sure you don't want to come to this thing tonight?"

"Nah, public parties aren't really my scene." He passed the rope back. "You should use hemp. It's stronger. Smells nicer too."

"This is fine for my purposes."

"You say that now, but if you ever find your purposes changing . . ."

Alec nodded absently as he zipped the bag, then sat back on his heels to look up at Eliot. "If public play's not your scene then what is? I know you're a rigger, what else are you into?"

Eliot flopped back on top of the duvet, staring up at Alec's skylight and wondering how long it would take Parker to break in that way, relative to all the other possible entrances. "Oughtta put that on your Fetlife profile. 'Alec is into: sharing (everything to do with it)'."

"Ha!" Alec chuckled and reached for his ever-present iPhone. "You know it'll take me like seven seconds to find you on Fetlife now."

Eliot smirked. "I said I know the site. I don't have a profile."

"Man, whatever." Alec rolled his eyes in theatrical exasperation. He got up and lay down on the bed next to Eliot. Their shoulders brushed but Eliot didn't move away, more comfortable around his teammates—Alec and Parker in particular—than he had been with anyone for a long time. All the more so since learning that they, small world, were kinky too. Alec twitched his arm, poking Eliot with a bony elbow. "I don't know why it ever surprised me, finding out you were into this kind of thing. I mean, your life practically revolves around hitting people."

"Dude, that's my job! You spend all day at work doing your little hacky thing, do you really want to play with computers when you get home, too?"

"Yes?" Alec said, a little sheepishly.

"Well, you're a bad example." He sighed, scowl fading, and reached for words to explain. "I'm good at fighting, I work hard to be good at it, and I like knowing when that work pays off, so in that way I do get a kind of pleasure. But I definitely don't get off on it."

"You get off on bondage?"

"More like I get out—out of my head, out of my life. When it's good, when that energy is right, whether I'm tying someone or being tied, it's like there's this peace, this almost blissful tranquility. Like I know what to do and I can do it without thinking and all those big and little worries just go away. It's better than any kind of meditative practice I've tried, and believe me, I've tried a lot. It's not exactly sexual either, like it takes such a different head-space that each one gets in the way of the other. I mean bound wrists during sex is one thing but for serious rope work it's just too distracting. It's almost easier sometimes to play with people I'm not sleeping with."

"Hm." Alec blinked, tracking the progress of a passenger jet across the skylight. "I guess that makes sense. At least I definitely get the bit about getting into the flow of it and doing without thinking. For me, the sensation play I do and the power exchange stuff too, whether I'm bottoming or topping, it's watching my partner's reactions that really gets me going, tuning in to them and just _knowing_ how to get that squirm, that little gasp or breathless murmur . . . Sorry, distracted myself with my own imagination there. Anyway, I respect where you're coming from."

"Cheers to that," Eliot said and raised his hand to fistbump.

"I am interested in learning more about that fancy Japanese rope stuff some time, if you don't mind teaching me."

He smiled, quietly flattered. "No problem."

"Just nothing around my neck, okay? On accounta the asthmatic tendencies and all."

"Mmm." Eliot's face twisted into a predatory leer. "Sex and choking. Those do go well together."

Alec laughed. "I'll take your word on that one. I gotta get going or I'll miss the whole party. See you at Nate's tomorrow?"

"Of course," he sat up with a sigh and waited by the door for Alec to grab his coat and bag. "Let me know when the next event you're going to is, maybe I'll tag along."

He pretended to duck away from Alec's brilliant smile and attempted hug, but relented, coming in below his outstretched arm and returning the affectionate squeeze.


End file.
